Question Do you loosen strings when shipping guitars?

[Zaarin]

I have a student who is moving from the US to Germany. His parents are moving with an international moving agency.

He has a lovely Blue Sparkle JP (2007 limited I think). I was wondering if we should loosen the strings before the guitar is shipped over to Germany via boat.

 

[Spudmurphy]

Why would you want to loosen the strings?

The strings and truss rod adjustment are like a balance. If you loosen the strings then you may induce back bow in the neck. Leave it as it is.

Tommy in Delaware ( Guitar tech for Steve Morse) might like to chip in here as he is responsible for the upkeep of Steve's guitars as they travel the Globe, but IMO I see no reason to slacken the strings.

 

[Zaarin]

That's what I thought, like you said, truss rod, neck, and strings are all a system that work together.

His parents asked me if we should do that because apparently one of their friends recommended them to do it.

 

[bbake1]

I have always shipped with strings at tension.

 

[the24thfret]

Keep at tension.

 

[Jack FFR1846]

One of my guitars sat in its case for most of 30 years, under my bed, tuned to pitch. It went from Mass to Virginia back to Mass on moving trucks. It's fine.

 

[Big Poppa]

two schools of thought but with electrics absolutely keep to tension

 

[Zaarin]

And that's why I love this place, speedy and informational replies.

Even got the big man to chime in on this, thanks BP and everyone for the info.

 

[Astrofreq]

Keep in tension

 

[Slav123]

Someone needs to tell this to the Guitar Centers across the US since they have always loosened the strings on the Balls that I had purchased from them before shipping. One GC employee actually told me that it was their policy and I argued with him about it until he agreed to ship the guitar at full tension/in tune.

Slav

 

[straycat113]

As Sterling stated there are two schools of thought on this subject, but every guitar I have had come in the mail has always been fully tuned or tuned down a half step, and I have never had one problem with a neck. There are a few good packing videos on ebay and youtube which will show you how to correctly ship a guitar, as there is much more to it then just string tension. Bubble Paper, News Paper and some old rags will come in handy as well as one tip that is very important and a lot of guys forget to do it. Make sure you put all extra springs, bars,keys and other loose items in a zip lock bag and tape the compartment. I actually had this happen to me and it was a nightmare to see the finish of the guitar destroyed(yes it was sent back to seller) but the shame was it was a hard to find ax. A few years later I found someone with a similar guitar in NOS condition, and when the guy said he bought the guitar as a fan and was not a player, I took every precaution and sent him the links to 3 videos on the web on how to pack a guitar. And good thing I did because he said he would of just mailed it as it was. The guy happened to be a contractor and to this day no one ever sent me a better packaged guitar.

 

[DrKev]

I read something by Bob Taylor where he recommends full tension for acoustics too.

 

[PeteDuBaldo]

We receive EBMMs perfectly in tune all week long with no issues. We ship them out the same way, again with no issues.

 

[Spudmurphy]

Out of interest and as BP says that there are two schools of thought, what is the thinking behind slackening the strings?